Colin Montgomerie tells old rival Ian Poulter: You should be here for Vivendi Trophy

Know your enemy: Colin Montgomerie chose only to pick on his old foe Ian Poulter

Colin Montgomerie chose the decidedly ironic setting of Versailles on Wednesday to show that, just because he is next year's Ryder Cup captain, there will be no treaty with long-time foe, Ian Poulter.

Never mind that the list of high-profile absentees from the British and Irish team to play Europe for the Vivendi Trophy - formerly the Seve Trophy - beginning on Thursday is as long as your arm, that Lee Westwood described it as a 'good week to take off because a win doesn't count for the money list.'

Only Poulter drew the ire of Monty. 'Given that he was a captain's pick for the last Ryder Cup, I feel that he could have made more effort to be here, that he could have given a little more back,' said the Scot.

'We've got Rory McIlroy playing here despite the fact he is just back from Korea, and Robert Karlsson choosing this event to return after four months out with an eye injury. It's disappointing, and I feel sorry for Paul McGinley, the British and Irish captain.'

Monty and Poulter, of course, have long been as fond of each other as Rafa Benitez and Sir Alex Ferguson. It was at this event four years ago that the enmity might well have begun, when Monty was British captain and Poulter chose to practice rather than support his team mates in a match that went to the 18th. When Monty went to have words, Poulter is alleged to have restricted his own reply to just two.

There have been a number of contretemps since, but Monty's decision to reopen this festering sore now is surprising in the light of Poulter's emergence at the last Ryder Cup. Monty did add that he hoped people wouldn't make a big issue of it. But any chance of that was rather rendered null and void by repeating his words on national radio.

There is no question, however, that a lot of people feel let down by the fact Poulter, Westwood, Paul Casey, Justin Rose, Luke Donald and Padraig Harrington are not here. The latter pair have a good excuse in that they are playing for $10million in America and Casey hasn't played all summer because of injury.

But you can't help but contrast the large gaps in the British side with the near full-strength European line-up. One leading tour official summed up the mood, telling Sportsmail: 'The feedback we got from the players' tournament committee earlier in the year was that they were desperate for the event to go ahead for Seve.

I'm busy: Ian Poulter will be not playing at the Vivendi Trophy for Seve Ballesteros

'So we've put it on, which is only right, but I think more of the players should have turned up. If anything happened to Seve, how are they going to feel that they decided not to play?'

A plane is on standby to bring Ballesteros from his home for Sunday's singles matches, should he feel well enough following a recent bout of radiotherapy, in his ongoing treatment for brain cancer. In his absence, he sent a moving letter to both teams that left a marked impression on McIlroy. 'He talked about how it felt like only yesterday that he was starting out on tour, what a privileged position we hold and how we should make the most of it,' he said.

As for Europe captain Thomas Bjorn, he had a typically wry take on why he has a much stronger team on paper. 'Can I get away with saying that when you have a chance to represent Europe and you can beat the British, you take it?' the Dane said, smiling. 'I think the Spaniards wanted to play for Seve, the Swedes always have a strong team ethic, while the three Danes know if they hadn't turned up, I'd have had them deported.'

As for the matches themselves, they begin with a cracker today, with McIlroy and the gargantuan-hitting Alvaro Quiros in direct opposition in the fourballs.